State Department of Agriculture earns national award for food safety

© Shutterstock

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services won the Association of Food and Drug Officials’ (AFDO) 2022 Elliot O. Grosvenor Food Safety Award.

This national award is presented to programs that best showcase improvement, innovation, or sustained high performance within a food safety program. The bureau was one of only two food safety programs in the country that earned the award this year.

Specifically, the department was recognized for implementing a Results PA – Performance Management System to better support data-driven decisions. It was also recognized for continuing to evaluate agency laboratory and regulatory programs against national standards, with the goals of maintaining international laboratory accreditation, conformance with FDA’s Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS), and increased conformance with FDA’s National Voluntary Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (NVRFRPS).

In addition, the department was recognized for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic – specifically, distributing personal protective equipment to restaurant operators, manufacturers, grocers, and other frontline food workers; counseling restaurant operators on food safety related to converting from dine-in service to prepackaged take-out offerings; and proactively consulting on a voluntary basis at food manufacturing facilities and USDA-inspected meat processing facilities to advise on methods to protect essential food workers.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services staff works incredibly hard to keep our farmers, restaurant workers, employees, and the public safe because it’s what they do – it’s what drives them. Over [the] last two years, they have gone the extra mile in responding to a health crisis in addition to performing their regular duties,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “This national honor is well deserved for all the bureau has done and continues to do for the health and safety of Pennsylvanians.”

The department was presented the award at AFDO’s annual educational conference in Glendale, Ariz., on June 14.